


Exhaustion

by Leahelisabeth (fortheloveofcamelot)



Series: All for the Game Tumblr Prompts [25]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Gen, Makeover, Pampering, self-care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:22:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25980529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortheloveofcamelot/pseuds/Leahelisabeth
Summary: It had totally become a thing.  Sometimes Neil just had off days. He didn’t what he was feeling or what could make him feel better.  He would run to the court but then be too amped up to practice.  And he would wander the common areas, searching for something. And then one day, he was sitting on the stairs because he couldn’t decide if he wanted to go up or down and Allison came and sat down beside him.  They sat there for a while, not saying a word, until Neil let out a sigh and tilted his head until it was resting on her shoulder.  Allison took that as her cue and pulled Neil to his feet and dragged him to her room.
Relationships: Neil Josten & Allison Reynolds
Series: All for the Game Tumblr Prompts [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/779268
Comments: 3
Kudos: 59





	Exhaustion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ApprenticedMagician](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApprenticedMagician/gifts).



> Tumblr fic written for the prompt: "im so exhausted" - Lol, can you picture Allison sprawled dramatically over Neil's beanbag chair? Let Neil pamper Allison for once!

It had totally become a thing. Sometimes Neil just had off days. He didn’t what he was feeling or what could make him feel better. He would run to the court but then be too amped up to practice. And he would wander the common areas, searching for something. And then one day, he was sitting on the stairs because he couldn’t decide if he wanted to go up or down and Allison came and sat down beside him. They sat there for a while, not saying a word, until Neil let out a sigh and tilted his head until it was resting on her shoulder. Allison took that as her cue and pulled Neil to his feet and dragged him to her room.

She still didn’t say a word, just pulled out her extensive makeup bag and styling tools and got to work. Neil had never had a manicure before, or a pedicure. It almost made him want to cry, watching Allison bent over his hands and feet, massaging and exfoliating with firm but gentle movements, treating him like he was something precious and beautiful, not scarred and unwanted. Allison held out a couple of bottles of nail polish and waited for Neil to choose. He just looked at her helplessly, still not in the right frame of mind to know what he wanted. So Allison painted each nail a different colour, carefully picking out a bright orange fox paw on his right thumbnail. 

Then she moved on to his hair, giving him a bit of a trim and a style, but mostly just taking the opportunity to massage the tension out of his neck and shoulders. Neil finally could feel himself sinking back into his skin.

“Thank you,” he said once he found his voice again.

Allison leaned down and hugged him. He stiffened up at first but she held on until he relaxed into her. “You’re allowed to have this,” she said softly. “You deserve people who love you and who are gentle with you.”

Neil nodded and grasped her wrist with one hand and let her hold him. Then he left her room and slid back into his life, watching Exy with Kevin, hanging out with Matt, doing…whatever it was with Andrew. And then it just became a thing. Neil’s bad days became makeover days and he learned to let Allison care.

Months after the first makeover, Allison strides into his room without knocking. Neil is having a good day. He had smiled more than once and had even laughed at one of Matt’s stupid puns. But Allison’s not having a good day. She flops into the beanbag chair beside Neil and sighs loudly and obnoxiously for a good ten seconds.

“I’m so exhausted,” she says, flopping her arm over her eyes. “Who decided it was a good idea to make athletes write finals?”

Neil opens his mouth to say something but Allison lifts her arm and glares at him. “Rhetorical question, Josten.”

Neil stands and crosses to his bedroom and grabs the hairbrush Allison had bought him shortly after he got his new haircut. He sits crosslegged on the floor behind the beanbag chair and gently begins to brush Allison’s hair. She sighs and relaxes deeper into the chair as Neil just brushes as gently as he knows how. He rubs her scalp too, and her shoulders, doing his best to work out all the knots the way she always does for him. And then he goes back to brushing. It’s almost hypnotic, the way her silky blond hair slips through the brush and flows out around her. He doesn’t have her bag of tricks with him but this is enough. He sits with her and she rests.

And Neil realises that he is allowed to have this, not just to have someone love him, but to love someone too. She isn’t his mom. She isn’t his sister. Neil doesn’t even know what that would be like. But he can’t help grinning to himself as Allison starts snoring gently in the chair, because this is what it means to have a friend.


End file.
